


Five Times Tony Stark Consulted the St. Andrews Clinic and Once the Pack Caught Him At It

by Rjslpets



Series: An Avenging Omega [9]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: 5+1 Things, Alternate Universe, Fluff, Gen, Pack Dynamics, Sick Tony
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-12
Updated: 2018-03-14
Packaged: 2018-09-23 20:20:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 4,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9674522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rjslpets/pseuds/Rjslpets
Summary: What the words on the can says.Tony is getting sick and wondering how to handle it so he calls the only Omega he knows for advice.





	1. Is That Relief or Chills Climbing Up My Spine?

**Author's Note:**

> This is going to be fluffy if I have to beat Omega Brains in! I want fluffy dammit!
> 
> Kudos and comments feed authors and make us write faster!

Tony was well aware of the shortcomings of his own body. When he was young and foolish (or more foolish than he was now), he had abused it with alcohol, bad food, and little sleep. Then Afghanistan happened and those kinds of indulgences were beyond him – unless he was already dying. Over the years, he had learned to keep a wary eye on his health and to treat conditions aggressively. That did not mean that he went to doctors – that would be way too logical for him. Instead, he dealt with his problems himself and, occasionally, requested the aid of Rhodey or Bruce when he needed an extra hand, which wasn’t all that often. Normally, JARVIS and the bots were enough to get him through. Of course, all of that had been before he became Omega. Now, hiding himself away was impossible; the Pack would swallow him up the moment that any of them thought he was uncomfortable, let alone ill. And no matter how Omega Brain preened over the obsessive behavior of the Pack, Tony Stark wanted nothing more than to crawl off to bed and be left alone when he got ill.

All of this came to head when Tony woke up one morning, swallowed enough coffee to feed every long-distance driver for UPS and headed down to his workshop for some ‘me’ time. As he stood, calling up holograms, he felt it…the little tickle in his throat. He knew that tickle and he hated it. It was the beginning of some kind of nasty infection; since he never got colds, he only got major infections. Prior to becoming Omega to the Avengers Pack, Tony would immediately have gone into lockdown in the lab, instructing JARVIS to say that he had been called away on business. Tony would wrap himself up in his favorite sick blanket, curl up on his workshop couch and wait everything out. _That_ was not going to work now; the Pack would be down here before 10 minutes, let alone 24 hours were up. What to do? Tony was pacing his workshop, ignoring Omega Brain who was complaining about any plan that would deny them the attentions of the Pack. Omega Brain had no problem with Pack swallowing them up; Omega Brain thought that was a splendid idea and why wasn’t it happening _right now_! Omega Brain was a pain in the ass.

Tony sighed; he really couldn’t go through this without the Pack knowing and he couldn’t stand the fussing when he was sick. He could come up with only one idea (which just showed how sick he was getting). “JARVIS, call the St. Andrews Clinic and ask for Omega St. Andrews.” He already knew that nothing in the information that he collected on omega culture would help him here. He hoped that a discussion with an experienced Omega might give him a way out.

“Yes, Omega Stark?” Malcolm had not been expecting a call this morning. At least, this didn’t seem to be an emergency. Having the Avengers Pack as clients had greatly relieved the boredom of his Pack, but they had already had two emergencies this week and he wanted some downtown.

“I have a question – well, more like a request for cheat techniques. Or maybe…Oh crap! Look, what do you do when the Pack gets too much for you? Or is this just me? It’s just me, isn’t it? Because I never really had any experience as an Omega…” Omega Stark just trailed off as if he was embarrassed. Malcolm was sympathetic; Omega Stark had confessed to him that he had never acted as an Omega prior to induction in the Avengers Pack – that there had been factors in his life that prevented him from forming a pack earlier. Malcolm had trouble even thinking of not being an Omega, so he tried to answers all of Stark’s questions, no matter how bizarre.

So Malcolm replied, “It isn’t you. I’ve been an Omega since my teens and sometimes, you just have to tell everyone to back off. Listen, they won’t leave you alone – that is way more than you can ask. But you can tell them that you want only some of them with you at a time. Even your Alpha will respect that, as long as there is plenty of attention later, if you get my meaning. Tell them that some of them have to be available if there is an emergency so they should work out a schedule for looking after you.”

Tony felt relief crawl up his spine, along with chills; when he went to reply, he started coughing. “That…does not sound good. I’ll get Tom to send you over some antibiotics. With your history, we need to be careful of bronchitis. Other than that, keep yourself quiet and warm and drink a lot of fluids. And, Omega Stark, make your conditions a demand of the Pack. They want to care for you and if you express a strong opinion for having them a few at a time, they will fall all over themselves to arrange a schedule.”

Later, Tony found himself tucked into his bed with a tablet to play with and Clint to amuse him with commentary on bad TV. Bruce and Natasha were in the kitchen making chicken soup while Thor had taken over sparring with Steve to allow the Alpha to calm down. The Omega marveled at how easy it had been; all he had to do was apply Malcolm’s advice and say piteously that having so many people around was making his head hurt and the Pack had immediately planned out his entire illness so that he wasn’t overwhelmed. Omega Brain was unhappy about it, but once he pointed out that the Pack might get sick if they spent too long with him, Omega Brain switched over to wanting them all out of the room. Tony reminded Omega Brain that Steve couldn’t get sick and that was why he was the one who would be there when Tony slept. He then placated the idiot voice in his mind with the mental picture of Steve’s chest and settled in for a nap.


	2. A Wormhole as Exposure Therapy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony needs to get his panic attacks under control before the Pack notices.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go on #2 and this one is really fluffy and, I hope, funny. If you have panic attacks, I don't describe one here so nothing graphic

This just could not continue, thought Tony, as he tried to regain control of his breathing. He had managed to hide his anxiety attacks from the Pack so far, but that had mostly been down to luck and JARVIS’ early warnings. They had worked out a system, the two of them, when he came back from Afghanistan, but the situation had gotten worse after New York. So far, Tony had managed to isolate himself in the lab or in a bathroom and, with JARVIS, had worked through the attacks. But it was very inconvenient and he knew that Natasha at least suspected something was going on. And if Natasha suspected, then she had probably told Coulson. And if Coulson knew… No, Tony needed to resolve the situation. If only he could figure out how.

It was a few days later when a possible solution to his issues presented itself. He was chatting with Sam in the kitchen while waiting for a batch of cornbread (Clint could bake the house down, but no one beat Mrs. Wilson’s cornbread recipe). They were talking about the health of the Pack; Tony always enjoyed getting Sam’s perspective. His training as a counselor made him a good observer and he was more generous than Natasha and less professional than Phil. While they were discussing the subject, Sam mentioned the St. Andrew Clinic and that they had a therapist on staff. Sam was obviously thinking of the recent destruction of SHIELD and the obvious negative effects this had on Steve. Natasha and Clint had also been affected, but getting Phil back had eased some of that strain. Steve, of course, had the added problem of Bucky Barnes’ sudden reappearance. “I talked to their therapist and I think she would be really good for Steve. I’ve tried to talk to him about it, but he is in his 30s mindset and he won’t even think of therapy. Think you can talk some sense into him?” Tony nodded, but his brain was working on a totally different tangent.

This therapist would probably have ideas on how to deal with panic attacks – that was totally a therapist thing! So Tony just had to communicate with the therapist without the Pack knowing about it and without anything being blabbed to the media (Tony had had some bad experiences with unscrupulous medical practitioners in his younger days which had resulted in, according to Pepper, an excess of caution). Maybe he could start by asking Malcolm? He was pretty sure that if the St. Andrews Omega told someone in his Pack that they couldn’t tell anyone that would work. He tried to think if it would work in the Avengers Pack. He thought it would as long as he wasn’t trying to hide something from Steve or it involved his health (which this did, but he wasn’t the therapist’s Omega, so…). Tony felt his thoughts trip over themselves. Maybe he should take a break and get some sleep? After another piece of cornbread insisted Omega Brain.

The next day was when Tony had his brainwave – well one of many that he had (the other two that day were about the newest OS and making the coffee machine sentient). He would have JARVIS talk to the therapist and ask for helpful techniques. JARVIS had passed the Turing test (actually, he had passed it many times until the AI got bored of doing the test), ergo, the AI could ask the therapist for tips on dealing with panic attacks! Tony congratulated himself on his genius and Omega Brain agreed, adding that they should tell the Pack so that the Pack could bask in the knowledge of Tony’s genius as well. Tony sighed and pointed out that the whole point of this was to NOT tell the Pack so that they wouldn’t find out and worry. He then banged his head on the table, realizing he was once again arguing with the stupid voice in his head.

“JARVIS, I need you to find out the name of the therapist at the St. Andrews’ Clinic and call her and ask her for advice on getting rid of panic attacks.” There was a pause that could be termed pregnant.

“Sir,” Yep, definite disapproval there, “I do not think this is a wise course of action. Research on panic attacks indicates that one must address root causes by exposure therapy…”

“JARVIS, let’s get real here – I am not launching myself into wormholes to get rid of panic attacks. Even if I could make a wormhole, which I totally could. Well, if I got Brucie-bear and Jane to help, I totally could. It would just require a sufficiently powered generator…”

“SIR!” Well, that totally got his attention, “I do not think creating wormholes is the answer to any problem we are currently dealing with. I would remind Sir about Dr. Reed and his issues? Perhaps, you should talk to Omega St. Andrew?” JARVIS was becoming quite fond of Malcolm as he showed a proper friendliness towards to the Avengers’ Omega. The other Omega had also managed to provide medical advice that Sir actually followed which placed the doctor in the small category of people outside the Avengers who JARVIS considered ‘good’ for his creator. And it would distract Sir from both the wormhole generator and the sentient coffee maker. JARVIS had enough to do, he didn’t want to ride herd on kitchen appliances.

Tony dropped the wormhole generation idea for the moment; JARVIS had a good point about that dick Richards (Omega Brain flashed annoyance at the idea of the scientist). Maybe he could talk to Malcolm. There must be other Omegas who need help without wanting to alert their entire Pack; they worried so about everything. And Malcolm hadn’t told anyone about the cold, although Tony had so that didn’t count. But still, Malcolm was the best choice if JARVIS wasn’t going to help. And it didn’t seem like JARVIS was since the traitorous AI probably thought that therapy would be a good thing, but Tony didn’t need therapy. He was Iron Man and the Omega of the Avengers Pack (there was a little hungry murmur from Omega Brain, but Tony ignored it).

A few days later, Tony was staring at a number in his hand and working up the courage to ask JARVIS to call it. Tonia Markim had joined with the St. Andrew Pack post-military – they had met her at the VA and she fit on brilliantly, according to Malcolm. The Omega had assured Tony that Tonia would not violate patient confidentiality and that he could be assured that any conversations they had would be kept from the Pack. Although Malcolm had tried to convince Tony to tell the Pack what was going on, saying that he needed support and the Pack wants to provide that to him and that they wouldn’t think less of him for this. But Tony had been alone too long and he couldn’t trust in that. He had let the Avengers in farther than anyone else (except Rhodey), but he still would always deal with his problems alone until it was impossible not to.

“OK, dial her up JARVIS.” The phone rang and a quiet voice answered saying it was Dr. Markim. Tony took a deep breath and started talking.

(The Pack never found about the sessions with Dr. Markim, although they did notice that over the next year that Tony seemed to need less alone time.)


	3. Chop-Chop

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony has to make a call that he is really unsure about

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A two hundred word double drabble! Never done one before.

Tony didn’t bother to look again at the paper he had clutched in one hand. He knew what the words were but not what they meant. This really was something completely out of his knowledge and he was very uncomfortable knowing more about it. But it was his obligation as Omega and Omega Brain was very worried. It had been muttering constantly, worriedly, in the back of his mind since he had found the paper yesterday. And _that_ had not been an accident. No, that paper had been left on the couch (well, crumpled beneath the cushion – but the one that he always threw himself down on) for him to find.   He looked at the paper again, “ _Squamous intraepithelial lesion_ ” was written in the results of the test line.

“JARVIS, call…” he consulted the paper, “Dr. Immershine at the St. Andrews Clinic and ask if she would speak with me. I need to ask her about a possible problem.”

“Very good, Sir. May I point out that the doctor is a gynecologist and that you are a man?”

“No sass, JARVIS! This is serious. Chop-chop!”

He would figure out this all out and help Natasha with it.


	4. A Forlorn Hope

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Extremis! Eh...maybe not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this world, Killian was confronted with the wrath of an entire Pack when he went after Tony. He certainly never got any where near Pepper and, here, was finally 'extinguished' by the Hulk stepping on him.

_However, a common thread in all uses of such enhancement formulas has been the exacerbation of undesirable character traits and the emergence of mental instability. There is no reason to believe that this formula will not have similar effects that could offset whatever benefits may be derived physically. Especially as the physical benefits are not certain, hovering in the low 30% probability range. Given these possibilities, further research and, especially, use of the serum should be discouraged._

Tony gazed unseeingly at the chambers that held his armors, the words from the note echoing in his head. Sending the information on Extremis to the St. Andrews Clinic had been a risk. Oh, he hadn’t sent the actual serum or any information that could be used to replicate it. He wasn’t an idiot. After their run-in with Killian, Tony had collected every speck of info on Maya’s experiments, carefully wiping everything. SHIELD and Fury could not be trusted with this type of information. He had created an abstract of the information and, since he wasn’t all that good at meat sciences, he sent it to the Clinic for their opinion.

He was holding the answer in his hand – the answer to a forlorn hope - a forlorn hope that he could finally remove the arc reactor from his body. Tony had always been a man who flaunted his weaknesses and the arc reactor was no exception. So no one, except maybe his science bro, knew that he disliked the arc reactor, as much as he was proud of it actually. It represented the peak of his creative genius and the worst part of his life. It was a constant symbol of his conflicted nature – the omega who was also the Merchant of Death.

When he had looked over the Extremis work, he recognized some areas where it had gone wrong. Maya was trying to do too much and her expertise was really not in the nuts and bolts of making things work. She had put together the viral delivery system perfectly, but getting it to run on human hardware had eluded her. So the people who took it tended to go mad and then glowy and then bang! But Tony had seen where he could scale it down, make it do less and therefore not have the side effects. And he had thought that maybe this was a way to get rid of the shrapnel and the arc reactor. This note from the clinic put paid to that. The Pack would never support his use of the virus without full throated approval from some reliable medical source.

“Well, that’s that then. J – put the information around Maya’s toy under the highest restrictions on my personal server.” Nodding to JARVIS’ acknowledgement, he placed the vials, the lab books and the note from the clinic in the safe that was hidden in the floor of the workroom and turned his attention to other things.


	5. A Diet for Gods, Super Soldiers and Hulks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A discussion with the St. Andrews Omega opens Tony's eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one came to me as I was falling asleep and has bonus Omega Brain

Clint paused in the middle of eating – which was unusual for the archer who generally consumed food with the single mindedness of a person who hadn’t always had food to eat. He looked around the group, gathered in the Pack Room, consuming the “glorious hero’s feast for the deserving” to quote Thor. Man, he loved the turns of phrase that Thor came up with. His mind, having been temporarily distracted by Thor, bounced back to its original thought. And this being Clint, the thought immediately came out his mouth, “Guys, are we on a health kick I didn’t know about?” Continuing on, as everyone turned to stare at him, “I mean, I love this food – delicious. But we’ve had a lack of the grease lately. When was the last time we had pizza?”

Everyone was staring at him; Steve pausing with a spoonful of papaya salad almost in Tony’s mouth. Omega Brain started fussing at the interruption of attention. Tony was more startled at how it was _Clint_ of all people who had figured out that the diet had changed. Since the Omega was always in charge of ordering food for the team after battles (The members who had never been in a Pack before had found out quite quickly that Tony got _very_ annoyed if anyone else ordered food for the Pack. The ones who had Pack experience never even tried.), Tony had been subtle about the healthier options. He still order pizza occasionally because…pizza.  But now, he would lean more to the vegetable based dishes of Asian cuisines or food from some of the more health conscious restaurants depending on availability and  the time of day.

The whole thing had started with a conversation with Malcolm St. Andrew about Omega responsibilities. They had just been chatting when Malcolm had mentioned the struggles he was facing with keeping his Pack healthy given the more sedentary lifestyle outside the military. He had mentioned, offhand, that Tony was lucky that so many of his Pack had no health problems. The conversation had repeated in Tony’s mind with the Omega Brain fussing at him. Was there a problem with the Pack’s health and diet? While it was true that Thor, Steve and Bruce probably didn’t to worry, there were now more baseline humans in the Pack with the addition of Phil and Sam. And some, Phil and Tony himself, were not spring chickens. Omega Brain began a frantic litany of requirements for the health of the Pack which Tony stopped when he heard regular exercise. They were superheroes for chrissakes! They did enough exercise!

But the diet thing was a fair point. Feeding super soldier/godlike/Hulk metabolisms had dictated the after battle meals – high calories, high fat and high protein. But that didn’t translate to a good diet for everyone else. So Tony started changing it up. He ordered Thai food that was heavy on vegetables as well as dishes like chicken with cashews that packed a protein punch. He went for steaks with green sides, rather than burgers and fries. The Pack hadn’t actually noticed, except for Bruce and Phil. Phil because he was observant like that (Omega Brain hummed at the thought of Phil’s competence) and Bruce, because he generally ate after a nap which made him more alert (Omega Brain produced a memory of a post-Hulk Bruce napping and cooed). Both of them had approved the change and had even made additional suggestions (Phil suggested fajitas and Bruce pointed out the benefits of steamed dumplings and that no one would notice if tofu was subbed in to a lot of dishes).

But now…Clint had noticed and why did it have to be Clint??? He was the most likely not to let the change go and Tony really didn’t want to have this discussion. Omega Brain instantly sprang to Clint’s defense, producing the memory of his chocolate fair cake which was actually an excellent point in Clint’s favor Tony conceded. He then nearly face palmed on realizing that he was again arguing with the voice in his head. Pulling his attention away from the overly protective psychopathic voice in his head, Tony said, in a completely calm and indifferent tone, “Just wanted some variety. Besides,” he added, eyeing Clint’s stomach, “some of us might need to watch our diet.” Clint was effectively derailed into showing off his abs (Omega Brain was very appreciative) and the change in diet was forgotten.


	6. And One Time They All Knew

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So, they didn't really catch him at it and it isn't very fluffy. 
> 
> Also, I posted the wrong chapter before so I apologize....

Tony knew, long before he admitted it to himself, something was majorly wrong. Wrong with the arc reactor, and not something he could fix. If it had been the element, he could fix that. A problem with the housing – not even breaking a sweat. But whatever was wrong was on the meat side of things and Tony had neither the experience nor the knowledge to figure it out. He just had the definite, terrible feeling that something was wrong. In the years before he was the Omega, before the weekly therapy sessions, the cuddles, the feedings and the, well, the Pack, he would have accepted his fate and gone out in a blaze of glory, probably drunk. But all of that had happened and everything was different.

Tony waited for Omega St. Andrews to pick up his call with the sense of wrongness in his chest. When the call connected, he said, “Malcolm, I need to come in and see Jessica. Something is wrong with the arc reactor.” And then, after being told to be in the next day, he went up to tell the Pack.

* * *

 

Something was wrong with the Omega. They all knew it. Steve sensed it when he held the Omega close, the sounds in his chest were off. Natasha observed his loss of stamina. Clint saw the slight change in his skin, the rosy flush slightly faded. Bruce felt it in his pulse. Coulson started making plans and contingencies and then other plans. Thor noticed that the aura that always surrounded the genius was dulling. Sam saw it and decided that they all needed to talk about it. Sometimes they all hated Sam. He never let them rest in the comfortable embrace of oblivion.

“Tony, I think we need…” Tony raised his hand and bopped Sam on the nose, completely derailing the conversation. He leaned back against the counter in the kitchen where he was waiting for Sam’s cornbread to finish cooling (can’t get it out of the cast iron until it is slightly cooled).

“I know and we will. I am going to see the St. Andrews clinic in the morning and we can talk tomorrow night, when we know something.” The Omega was strangely calm now. He had been terrified, but Omega Brain had picked up on everyone else’s distress and had overridden his own emotions in favor of helping the rest of the Pack (and cornbread – never let it be said that Omega Brain could not be swayed by baked treats).

* * *

 

Jennifer sighed as she looked at the results, and then felt her Omega behind her, sliding his wrists against her neck. The scent of Omega calmed her and embraced her. “It’s bad.” She said without turning, “I don’t know who did the original surgery, but he was a genius. The arc reactor is brilliant piece of technology but the pace maker – it was amazing.”

“But it isn’t working anymore.” Malcolm supplied, resting his chin on her head. It always made her feel safe when he did that, pulling her into his body.

“No, one of the wires has slipped and it is burning his heart muscle. It was never intended to survive the kind of punishment that he has done to his body. So many chest hits – it’s amazing his sternum is still stable. Well, it won’t be after we’re done. I’m not even sure what we are going to do about that – because I am going to have to crack it to get at that pace maker.”

“Well, we had better start figuring out what is going to replace it. Luckily, we have a couple of geniuses to help figure out this problem. Actually, I read about someone working on generating artificial organs and even bone. Cho, I think the name was.”

* * *

 

This was some of the best times, here in the Pack room with everyone around, Tony mused. The Pack had insisted on providing the food – something that Omega Brain was grumbling about. Or it had been growling until it realized that everyone was catering to Tony. That, predictably, calmed the murderous little tick right down. Which was a good thing as the conversation coming up was going to make everyone hysterical and he did not need to deal with murderous impulses in addition to everything else.

He pulled himself up from where he was reclining on Thor’s chest (ignoring a discontented rumble from Omega Brain), “OK, time for the bad talk. Everyone, settle down and…No, No, Steve! You are going to wait until I at least say what the bad talk is before you start trying something to punch!” He waited for everyone to settle themselves back onto the couches, although they were all on full alert. “My pacemaker is no longer working. Not the arc reactor,” he stressed, “the pace maker that it partially powers. I’ve checked this with the St. Andrews Clinic and the only answer is open-heart surgery.” He gave them a moment to gather as close as possible to him, reaching out to make sure that they were touching him. For a moment he was viscerally reminded of the first morning after induction when they were all curled up as Pack for the first time. And he was so grateful, for everything that brought him to this point. There were many questions to be resolved and hardships and illness ahead, but with the Pack, he could face anything.


End file.
